The teachers the little ones have always trusted were there for them when a crazed gunman turned Sandy Hook Elementary School into a shooting gallery early Friday.

As reports come in from the horrific shooting in an affluent small town in Connecticut, the bravery of the teachers at the 600-student school provided a glimmer of hope in a story that sickened the nation and brought President Obama to tears.

One teacher ushered her students into a bathroom and locked the door, according to Lisa Procaccini, whose daughter attends the school.

"She was in a small class -- a reading group, and they started hearing bangs," Procaccini said. "Her teacher, and I’m grateful for this, rushed kids into the bathroom and locked the door. They told kids it was hammering and tried to keep them calm.”